


Take My Hand

by TrisanaSkystorm



Series: The Murderous Poet [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-12
Updated: 2013-04-12
Packaged: 2017-12-08 07:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/758826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrisanaSkystorm/pseuds/TrisanaSkystorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Mary go on their fourth date, and fun is had by all. For the most part. Prequel to a story I'm co-authoring at the moment on Tumblr called The Murderous Poet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take My Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Interstella](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interstella/gifts).



> Who would have thought I could do fluff huh? Because that's a blatant lie. I can't. Wait for the main story...then you'll see.

Take My Hand

John looked at his watch with barely concealed impatience and anxiety. This was their fourth date, but it felt every bit as scary as their first. Time was passing far too slowly. Why he’d thought it was smart to show up so early he had no idea. Perhaps it was because he was nervous. They weren’t exactly going on normal dates for their age. But they were fun.

Finally the time tipped over to only five minutes before and he felt no hesitation in knocking on her door. With a smile she emerged, shutting the house up behind her. “You look beautiful Mary,” John said with a smile, grasping her hand in his. It was true. She was looking especially pretty with her navy blue coat on and a bundled scarf to keep out the cold. Although something was different..  
“Did you get a haircut?” John asked looking at her hair thoughtfully.

“Yes,” Mary laughed shaking her head, at least he’d noticed, “I cut off several inches. It was getting too long.”

With a smile John carried on the conversation the whole way to the fair ground. Standing before the threshold he smiled and turned to his date, “Alright with this?” With an excited laugh Mary dragged him by his hand into the grounds, looking at everything around as she went before stopping in front of a shooting game.

“Will you win me something?” Mary asked letting go of John’s hand and rocking back and forth on her feet in a childish way. It was something that she wouldn’t have done with anyone else, but with John they were both free to act like teenagers. It was fantastic and freeing, and she was really enjoying herself on these dates. She’d put herself out there and said yes when he’d asked at the pub, but there was no way that she could regret it.

“Is that a challenge?” John asked with a grin before stepping forward, paying the vendor and hoisting the gun. Settling into the right stance he took aim and shot every target with furious precision. When there were no more targets, and the gun was empty he set it aside and took the prize; an enormous stuffed bunny.

Handing it to Mary she grinned, “That was fantastic John. You were brilliant, really brilliant. Thank you.”

John blushed a bit under the praise. So this was what it was like when people praised you so highly. No wonder Sherlock had always glowed and secretly revelled in his amazement. It was fantastic. Sherlock. It had been a little over a year since he’d died. 

He was finally starting to feel a little more normal. It might have seemed extreme to some; in fact Harry had given him a right bollocking over it, between drinks of course. It was only now he could understand and move on, stop blaming himself. For not being convincing enough. For not being fast enough. For not seeing the warning signs.

“What next?” John asked putting his arm around Mary, drawing her close to him to keep out the creeping London chill. Huddling together they smiled, Mary laying her head on his shoulder momentarily while she thought.

“The fun house,” Mary said pointing at the attraction a few stalls down. Only children and parents with children seemed to be going in there, but she had no qualms suggesting it. She was safe with John, and together they were healing. Mary had lost her sister seven months ago, but luckily she was already doing better than John had been when they first met. She could see it, with every date he was lighter and freer. She was fixing him.

Slipping his hold from her body to her hand they strolled leisurely to the fun house. Heading to the left John held tight to Mary’s hand as she hopped lightly across the wobbling wooden bridge, he himself skating around after her. Grinning back at him she pulled him along the floor, “Come on, hurry up!”

Laughing as he stumbled on the last step onto solid ground she tugged him onward. Letting go of his hand she twirled in front of a mirror, “What do you think? Does this look suit me?”

John laughed at the image. The funhouse mirror rippled and squashed her body together making her look short. “Fantastic,” John replied stepping in front of his own and becoming massively tall. Like Sherlock. No, now was not the time to think of him. It had been a year. It was more than time to move on.

“You look like Slender Man,” Mary laughed noting the change but aiming to push John through. He’d come back. He always had so far.

“Slender Man? What’s Slender Man?” John asked in confusion.

“Slender Man is very tall and thin with unnaturally long arms. It has a pale featureless head and appears to be wearing a dark suit. It’s from the internet,” Mary replied grabbing John’s hand and pulling him along. 

It was something her younger sister had shown her; a consummate gamer she’d delighted in terrifying Mary any chance she got and Slender Man was just one of those things she’d used. The last time they’d talked Lisa had shown her all manner of youtube video’s including some sort of documentary about the Slender Man character. She missed her little sister.

There had been seven years between Mary and Lisa and yet the two of them had been very close. Angela and David Morstan had been told that after Mary they couldn’t have any more children. And yet they had. Lisa was their miracle baby, and as such she’d been babied for most of her life. Sometimes Mary had resented that, but for the most part she’d adored her sister as much as her parents had. It had been a big shock for them all when Lisa developed cancer and died. But then that was what happened when you refused treatment.

Shaking off the dark topic Mary led the way to the next section of the funhouse. A giant hamster wheel thing greeted them and throwing caution to the wind Mary jumped inside, pulling John with her. Laughing they started to run, trying futilely to keep up with the revolutions of the wheel only to have their feet knocked out from under them, bouncing around the bottom inside.

Laughing and rubbing their slightly sore bodies they moved on, up the stairs that alternately raised and lowered. Climbing up to the second story they found the landing full of obstacles. Taking the lead and dragging John along Mary shouldered her way through the soft bags ducking and weaving amongst them happily. At the end of the landing there was a slide that twirled down to the first floor again.

John looked at Mary pulling her close for a soft kiss, “Are you ready?”

“Definitely,” Mary replied letting go of John, running to the slide, giving him a wink and throwing herself down.

Daring and fun. That was the Mary he was really growing to care for. John smiled to himself with contentment and then took his own turn down the slide, twisting out to meet Mary at the bottom. Her blonde hair wavered in the wind, the edges of her coat collar flapping about and at that moment he was struck again by just how pretty she was.  
Grabbing her hand he dragged them to a nearby photo booth. The curtain swung shut behind them as they sat side by side in the little booth. Putting in the money and setting the machine to start he turned to face her smiling happily as the machine started to take photos.

“I’m glad we came tonight,” John stated putting his hand to her cheek, “I had fun.”

“Me too,” Mary replied before leaning in for the kiss they were poised on the precipice of, the machine flashing away the whole time, “Me too.”


End file.
